Note From Ann Blake-Tracy: I do not know if I can tolerate reading another one of these stories!

This last week I went to the Iowa State Fair for the first time with my daughter and her family who were visiting. While riding the trolley through the fair the man sitting across from me asked an elderly couple as they got off how many years they had been together.

They answered that it was 53 years. And he wished them the best for their next 53 years together.

They smiled and said “Thank you.”

As we drove on I looked at the man across from me and said, “As long as neither of them take an antidepressant they should do okay.” And I went on to share with them how many of the absolutely horrifying reports we are getting of elderly couples, married for many years, killing one another.

I then returned home to open this report of yet another horrific tragedy for a couple who had been married a few years longer than the couple I had just met on the trolley . . . there is just no excuse for this to continue! How sad! I is NORMAL for a man who has worked all of his life to become depressed if he has to sell his business. It is NOT a reason to medicate him!

What an absolutely horrific way to end a life of 60 years together. I hope their children know what really happened in the loss of their parents instead of one woman I met after one of my lectures who came forward crying. As she reached me she said, “I cannot thank you enough for helping me to finally have answers to why my father killed my mother and then himself 20 years ago while taking one of the older antidepressants!”

Paragraph seven reads: “The court heard how Mr Mann became depressed after he sold his business in 2000 and from 2002 to 2005 was placed on anti-depressants, and again in 2008 after a reoccurrence of the mental illness.”

Depressed pensioner bludgeoned wife to death before drowning himself

A pensioner bludgeoned his wife of almost 60 years to death before drowning himself in the bath.

Police discovered the body of retired sales rep Doreen Mann, 80, sprawled in the living room of the house she shared with husband Kenneth.

The retired factory owner, 81, was found dead upstairs face down in a bath full water wearing only his vest and underpants.

Officers took away a hammer, a craft knife and another knife from the scene at Foxroyd Lane, Thornhill Edge, Dewsbury, after the alarm was raised by a visiting mental health nurse on December 23 last year (2008].

An investigation was launched at the time by West Yorkshire Police’s Homicide &Murder Inquiry Team.

But Detective Sergeant Ian Lawrie told Wednesday’s inquest at Huddersfield Coroner’s Court that no-one else was being sought in connection with the death of the couple, who were both born in Leeds and had been married for 57 years.

The court heard how Mr Mann became depressed after he sold his business in 2000 and from 2002 to 2005 was placed on anti-depressants, and again in 2008 after a reoccurance of the mental illness.

On December 18, 2008, he and his wife were visited by psychiatrist Dr Vinood Shukla and a psychiatric nurse, the court heard.

A psychiatric nurse came to the red-bricked home called Kendoreen, where the couple had lived for 21 years, at 2.30pm on December 23.

After getting no answer from the front door apart from the couple’s barking collie dog, the nurse saw a bathroom light on and called police.

Detectives found the two knives and the hammer close to Mrs Mann’s body.

Her cause of death was later found to be a blow to her head and cut wounds to her neck and forearms.

Mr Mann’s corpse was found in an upstairs bathroom, face down in a full bath – his cause of death was given as self-drowning.

Barbara Moore told the inquest three weeks before her sister’s death Doreen had said she feared her husband might harm her.

West Yorkshire Coroner Roger Whittaker described the deaths as a “double tragedy”.

He recorded a verdict that Mrs Mann was unlawfully killed and that her husband drowned.

Mr Whittaker said he was satisfied that the balance of Mr Mann’s mind was disturbed at the time of his death and “that imbalance…was present at the time of the death of his wife“.

Mr Whittaker added that Mr Mann had given no indication on December 18 that he intended to harm his wife and that Mrs Mann had raised no similar concerns.

But the coroner said lessons “had been learned” by the mental health trust involved.

A South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust spokeswoman said: “The Trust re-iterates its sincere sympathies to the family and others affected by these tragic deaths.

“The circumstances have been thoroughly investigated, and we are grateful to the family for their input into this.

“Sadly, we cannot change the tragic events that happened but we can learn from them and a number of changes have been made as a result.”

These included: Improved systems for referrals between services and exchange of information; Improved training for staff on assessing risk; Improved record keeping following home visits.

The spokeswoman added: “The investigation findings have been shared with the family and we are continuing to offer support as appropriate.”

The full article contains 574 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
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She has specialized since 1990 in adverse reactions to serotonergic medications (such as Prozac, Sarafem, Zoloft, Paxil, Luvox, Celexa, Lexapro, Effexor, Serzone, Remeron, Anafranil, Fen-Phen, Redux and Meridia as well as the new atypical antipsychotics Zyprexa, Geodon, Seroquel and Abilify), as well as pain killers, and has testified before the FDA and congressional subcommittee members on antidepressants.

WITHDRAWAL WARNING: In sharing this information about adverse reactions to antidepressants I always recommend that you also give reference to my CD on safe withdrawal, Help! I Can’t Get Off My Antidepressant!, so that we do not have more people dropping off these drugs too quickly – a move which I have warned from the beginning can be even more dangerous than staying on the drugs!

WITHDRAWAL HELP: You can find the hour and a half long CD on safe and effective withdrawal helps here: store.drugawareness.org And if you need additional consultations with Ann Blake-Tracy, you can book one at www.drugawareness.org or sign up for one of the memberships for the International Coalition for Drug Awareness which includes free consultations as one of the benefits of that particular membership plan. You can even get a whole month of access to the withdrawal CD with tips on rebuilding after the meds, all six of my DVDs, hundreds of radio interviews, lectures, TV interviews I have done over the years PLUS my book on antidepressants with more information than you will find anywhere else for only $30 membership for a month (that is only $5 more than the book alone would cost) at www.drugawareness.org. (Definitely the best option to save outrageous postage charges for those out of the country!)

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